On The Road To Destiny
by Kameka
Summary: A young girl makes her bid for freedom.


Title: On The Road To Destiny

Author: Kameka

Rating: G

Disclaimers: Characters from the show Wild Card do not belong to me. Any original character does. Don't sue.

Notes: Just a quick story I wrote.. Unbeta'd but I did spellcheck and read through it looking for obvious errors. Any errors that are here are mine and I apologise.

Spoilers: There aren't really any.

Summary: A young girl makes her bid for freedom.

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Candace Lowell ignored the almost whisper-quiet sound of a door opening, hugging her knees closer to her body and continuing to look out her bedroom window at the endless stretch of black sky dotted with stars. Her body automatically listed to one side as the mattress beside her depressed under the weight of another person, and she raised one hand to wipe away all trace of the tears that she'd shed earlier from her face.

"Ace?"

Candace turned after a moment, responding to the uncertainty in her sister's voice. "Yeah, Bee?" She didn't say anything more as her sister shifted closer, allowing her own mirror-image to pull her into a warm embrace.

"Are you okay?"

"After that?" Candace blustered, laughing slightly, aware but ignoring the tears that began to slide down her cheeks again. "Come on, Bee, you know that tonight was nothing compared to what usually happens. It wasn't even a major blowout."

"I know," came the quiet answer, and Candace was grateful for the silence that allowed her to regain control of her emotions, even as she envied her sister her serenity for the millionth time in their sixteen years.

"I just..." Candace sighed and looked over at her twin as she shook her head. "I just can't stay here any longer, Bee. I don't belong here. I never have."

Candace was aware of her sister's look as she moved away from her, getting up to go stand by the window. Her sister soon joined her, though Candace was aware that Bee was looking out the window as well.

"Where do you belong?"

Candace shrugged, a self-deprecating smile on her face. "I don't know. Somewhere out there," she gestured to the night sky. "There are a million cities waiting out there, ready to be explored, Bee. There are people I've never met, never thought of meeting."

"Are you ready to?"

Candace shrugged again, looking away from the promise of the night sky to her sister with eyes that were determined even with the uncertainty and remnants of tears swimming in them. "Do I have much of a choice?"

Bee offered an equally watery smile as she shook her head. "When are you going?"

Candace took a deep breath before nodding. "Tonight." After a moment, the uncertainty came back to her young face. "Will you help me?"

"Ace, I can't..."

"I don't expect you to come with, Bee. You're happy here. You fit in here. Will you help me get ready?"

"You have to ask?" There was another fleeting smile. "You're my sister, Ace."

Candace nodded and turned to her bed, bending down to scramble for things she'd put under there. A bit of debris later, she finally came out with a box of hair color and turned to Bee, who automatically stepped back. "It's not a gun, Bee! I want to be a new person in a new place, not just little Candace, the imperfect Lowell twin from Tate, New York. I don't want to have just moved places." She waited while Bee nodded and finally stepped closer.

"Are you cutting it?"

Candace bit her lip and she automatically touched her waist-length dark brown hair. It was her pride and joy. No matter how many arguments she had with her parents who considered pride and vanity a sin, she'd refused to have it cut and it had been years since she'd endured anything more than the slightest trim. She wore it up normally, tidily tucked away in a French braid or a bun that her parents could find no fault with, but every once in a while she rebelled and wore it down, earning glares and head-shakes of disappointment. It was, quite simply, a symbol of her rebellion against her parents; even more-so than the cosmetics, articles of clothing, and music that she kept carefully hidden under her bed for the simple fact that it was visible.

Taking a deep breath, Candace nodded to her sister, reminding herself that she was leaving, that she no longer needed what her long hair had represented for so long. She did want to be a new person, didn't she? She sat down on a hard backed chair and took a deep breath, closing her eyes and cringing at the barely audible sound that Bee's scissors made. She was immediately struck by how light her whole head felt, as chunks of her hair fell to the floor.

The job was quickly done and Candace opened her eyes to look into the mirror. Bee had made the effort to try to match the lengths, but it looked like what it was: a home chop job done by a complete amateur. Before she could even react, Bee was touching her shoulder, reminding Candace that the brilliant red dye that she had bought as a rebellion weeks ago would help hide the amateur job.

Candace didn't agree, but they went through the dying process until Candace was staring into the mirror at an unfamiliar person: the bright hair warmed her peaches and cream complexion and made her warm blue eyes seem mysterious. Taking a deep breath, Candace reflected that they were past the moment of reckoning: there was no turning back now.

It was a sentiment that hit Bee at the same time, the brunette leaning over to hold her now redheaded sister in a hug. "I'm going to miss you, Ace."

"I'll miss you, too, Bee."

The rest of the hour was spent frantically getting Candace's things together, the girls ignoring much of the parent-approved clothing and packing the clothes that Candy had picked out for herself and kept hidden: jeans that were slightly too tight, T-shirts that were the same, shoes with heels on them and, last, a leather jacket that her older -- secret -- boyfriend had given to her.

At last, everything was packed and the mess they made cleaned up and the sisters stood facing each other, both sad, though Candace was brimming with an underlying sense of excitement and relief.

"Will you keep in touch, Ace?"

Candace hesitated for a brief moment before nodding, not wanting to lose contact with her sister, the best thing in this town and the one person who seemed to really understand her. "Not at first," she warned, "but I'll write you letters."

"Send me postcards," Bee urged, her voice uncharacteristically stern as she laid down the law. "You don't have to write down your name or a note, they don't even have to be for the city you're in, Ace, but I want you to send me postcards so I know you're alive. And here..."

Candace looked down at the wad of bills that Bee had stuffed into her hand, tips from her work as a waitress in the diner and, by the looks of it, large portions of most of her paychecks. "Bee..."

"No. You'll need it."

Candace slipped it into her bag before hugging her sister. They finally broke apart and each took deep breaths before Candace nodded once and turned to the window that she had spent so many years of her life staring out of as she imagined the world outside Tate, New York. "Tell them I love them, Bee."

"I will. They love you, too."

Candace took a deep breath, feeling the anxiety lessen in her chest. Without another word, she slid out the window, a feat made easy by a lot of practice, and shimmied down the tree that was by the window. Glancing up, she smiled and blew a kiss to her sister before creeping out of the yard and heading for the bus depot.

Hours later, as dawn tinged the sky a pearly pink and the dust-covered Greyhound bus rattled its' way out of Tate, Candace turned in her seat to look out the grimy window at the town she'd called home all of her life. She was jostled slightly by someone moving past her seat and she turned to look at who it was, smiling at the forty-something woman who sat down in the seat behind her.

"Beautiful morning, isn't it?"

The woman looked started, not expecting the young girl to talk to her, but she looked out the window and saw the same view that she'd seen from a hundred bus windows. "I suppose so." Candace smiled and the woman was struck by how young she looked. "Going somewhere special?"

"New York, for now. After that..." Candace shrugged and offered another smile. "Only the wind knows."

"Ever been to New York?" When Candace shook her head, the woman offered a slight smile. "My name's Miriam Bradley. As the first New Yorker you've met on this trip, I welcome you to the city that never sleeps."

"Thank you, Miriam Bradley." Candace grinned before continuing: "My name's Candy. Candy La Rue."

"It's a pleasure, Miss Candy La Rue."

The newly christened Candy smiled again as she looked out the window at the rising sun before nodding to herself. This was it. This was what she'd been waiting for, what she'd dreamed of.

She was her own person who could make her own decisions... and she'd decided on adventure.

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The End

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Reviews are welcome!


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